[ ♪ theme ] >> bill: good morning, good morning, good morning. it is thursday, thursday august 8th. can you believe it? rise and shine. time to get into the big stories of the day. that's what we'll do for the next three hours here on the "full court press." welcome to the program. as we come to you live from our nation's capital, washington, d.c. as we've been telling you, it is a ghost town. these days. with the house out of session. the senate out of session.

president obama is back in town barely for a couple of days then he scoots off to martha's vineyard for his own vacation. but to the extent there is any news, we'll tell you about it and give you a chance to comment on it at 1-866-55-press. join us on twitter at bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. he goes up to martha's vineyard for vacation with his family, one person the president will not be playing golf with is vladimir putin. in fact, yesterday, the white house announced that the president was canceling his scheduled summit with vladimir putin before the g-20 meeting in st. petersburg because the president is pissed that vladimir putin gave a one-year asylum to edward snowden. for that, everything else goes on the rocks.

and rick scott in florida says he's going to try once again to prevent latinos and blacks from voting. wow! on current tv. tell you all about it. are you encouraged by what you

we have a big, big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. (vo) sharp tongue. >>excuse me? (vo) quick wit. >> and yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. (vo) and above all, opinion and attitude. >> really?! this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. >> you know what those people are like. >> what could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush? >> my producer just coughed up a hairball. >>sorry. >>just be grateful current tv doesn't come in "smell-o-vision"

>> oh come on! the sweatshirt is nice and all, but i could use a golden lasso. (vo)only on current tv. this show is about analyzing, criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal, or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i'm given to doing anyway, by staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. i've worn lots of hats, but i've always kept this going. i've been doing politics now for a dozen years. (vo) he's been called the epic politics man. he's michael shure and his arena is the war room. >> these republicans in congress that think the world ends at the atlantic ocean border and pacific ocean border. the bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. i do a lot of looking at those people as well. not only does senator rubio just

care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. there were two winners of the powerball in new jersey and one in minnesota. i am not one of them. good morning, everybody. hey, you're not either. great to see you this morning. hello, hello, hello. welcome to the "full court press" on a thursday morning, august 8th. here we are, middle of summer. we're still at it.

house and the senate out of town. we're still here. ready to bring you -- update you on all of the news of the day and give you a chance to talk about it and tell us what it all means to you. looking forward to hearing from you by phone, of course, at 1-866-55-press. want to hear your comments, get your comments on twitter at bpshow and at facebook.com/billpressshow. how about it. for the sake of bringing full resources of the show to bear, we've got the team in place here. peter ogborn and dan henning. >> hey, hey, hey. >> good morning. >> bill: alichia cruz has the phones covered. cyprian bowlding here as always on the video cam. we're coming to you on your local progressive talk radio station and on current tv. so one way or the other, good to have you with us today. i gotta tell you, i had a big

day yesterday. a big foreign policy day yesterday. very, very pleased. >> you met edward snowden? >> bill: i met with secretary state john kerry. a very, very good friend of mine from los angeles, john emerson, he and i have been involved in politics for a long time together. great guy. great family. he is the new ambassador to germany. he was sworn in yesterday by secretary of state john kerry at the state department. carol and i went to that ceremony in the benjamin franklin room. very beautiful room up on the 8th floor of the state department building. i tweeted out a couple of photos. that's another reason to follow us on twitter. never know what's going to pop up there at bpshow. and then last night, good friend of his gave a party for him in nearby potomac, maryland.

lynda carter. yes, one and the same. >> you mean -- >> bill: wonder woman! >> wonder woman? >> bill: yes, wonder woman's house and also tweeted out a photo of wonder woman. a big day and congratulations, john goes back to los angeles today. a week from now, he and his family will be heading to berlin and be our new ambassador there. can't wait to visit him at the german embassy. dan, you have to tell your brother he can go by and say hello to our new ambassador. >> go up to berlin. >> bill: john also speaks fluent german. he studied as a student. >> i would imagen if you're going to be the ambassador, you would need to speak german. >> bill: that's not always the case. >> you would think you would have to know that. >> bill: you would think so. i got my lottery tickets and the big news is that the three winners last night, i'm not one of them but i did win -- i got

the powerball number on one of my tickets. >> that's great! that sounds exciting. i'm sure you got a massive monster payoff for that. >> bill: i learned from cyprian this morning, i got $4. >> oh, okay. >> not bad. a cup of coffee. >> bill: i lost just $2 instead of $6. it will keep me playing again. i tell you. all right. in fact, the head of the lottery whatever last night, multi-state lottery, sue dooley made the announcement. >> for tonight's $448.4 million, there were three jackpot winning tickets out there sold. we had two from the state of new jersey and one from the state of minnesota. >> bill: $448 million divided by three ways, i would still be happy. wouldn't you? >> yeah. >> bill: david jackson joining us from the white house, "usa today." good friend and joe cirincione

from the ploughshares fund will be in studio with us later. we'll be talking to reporters from politico and not this news. i'm sorry, now this news. how about it? president obama tells vladimir putin, you can stick your stinkin' summit. but first... >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this thursday... tiger woods prevented a potential stampede yesterday. according to "usa today," he walked up to a group of fans leaning against a barricade while he was playing a practice round at the pga championship and he went up to sign autographs but they surged as he approached and the railing started to give way. he did an immediate about-face and laughed as he walked away. this was another instance of him getting more personable and looser in recent times. last week, he hoisted his son in the air after winning the

bridgestone invitational, something he's never done before. >> bill: god, a human side to tiger woods? >> they programmed him to show emotion. >> bill: he has come across in the past as pretty cold and aloof. >> there's nothing like an embarrassing public fall from grace that will humble you. bruce willis has been replaced by harrison ford in the upcoming expendables 3 movie and no one is happier than co-star sylvester stallone. he tweeted yesterday "willis out, ford in, great news, been waiting years for this." then went on to call bruce willis greedy and lazy. no response from willis yet. arnold schwarzenegger and jason statham star in the film along with victor ortiz. they all stayed silent. >> bill: i didn't realize they had that -- >> you know who else -- >> bill: sounds like be putin and obama. >> our friend we had in studio.

>> with two major newspapers recently getting sold, the publisher the nation's top newspaper sent a memo to all employees to kill any rumors they were selling as well. arthur saltzberger jr. telling "new york times" employees his family is not selling the franchise. he will continue to work hard to lead the times forward into the global and digital future and no one should worry about anything. >> bill: you know, i was thinking about yesterday, you guys don't have to comment on this. i just want to -- you know that -- so jeff bezos boss, "the washington post" for $250 million, al jazeera bought current tv for $500 million. >> oh, wow. >> bill: think about that. is current tv really worth quite as much as "the washington post"? >> good question. >> bill: just asking. get out there.

here we go. >> well, see ya later, everyone! this has been fun. have a good weekend. starting early this weekend. >> bill: great knowing you! here we go. hey, listen, you probably heard the news. president obama telling vladimir putin yesterday uh-huh. i don't want to sit down with you. the summit is off. the plan was he is going to the g-20 meeting in st. petersburg. the fifth -- the 5th and 6th of september. the plan was to go to moscow first to have a sit-down with vladimir putin. the president canceled that meeting yesterday mainly because, no doubt about it, they do admit it, because the president is pissed off that he asked vladimir putin not to give edward snowden asylum and putin

did so anyway. gave him a one-year asylum. so on the 4th of september, instead of going to moscow, the president's going to go to sweden. sweden is the consolation prize. >> okay, sure. >> bill: sweden is happy. they get the president of the united states there. jen yesterday from the state department says you know, we just didn't see that this was going to work out and members of the administration all agreed. >> there was unanimous support for the decision not to, within the national security council, not to hold the summit. >> bill: and she added that they didn't think they could -- this is the spin now we're hearing from the administration. of course, they just didn't think they could -- there was enough progress had been made on enough issues to make a summit worthwhile. >> we were not at the point in

our progress on a number of these issues where a summit at the presidential level was the most constructive step. >> bill: and the administration pointed out that they insisted it wasn't just edward snowden. there was other stuff going on that necessitated or that argued for not having a summit with vladimir putin. that there wasn't -- as indicated there, they didn't see sufficient progress like arms control or they didn't see sufficient progress on syria and then, of course, comes along snowden so they decided to scrub the whole thing. the question i have and the question for you and i think the question we all ought to be asking is this the right move? 1-866-55-press. or are we overreacting to edward snowden? the president immediately got a lot of praise from democrats and

republicans in congress to the extent that they're still around. and commenting on any of the stuff at all. and for being -- praised for being tough, for standing up to putin, for showing him like who's really in charge and for showing him you can't do something like this snowden thing and expect to get away with it. the president's right in saying we're just going to take this prize of a summit away from you. is that the right thing to do? 1-866-55-press. i gotta tell you, i don't think so. i've got real questions about this move. to me, it comes across as looking rather petty, look rather silly. making too much of a big deal about edward snowden. i mean look what else is on the table, okay? how about syria, how about the fact that right now, russia is

still the only major country supporting president al-fazed. the united states supporting the rebels. certainly, that's worth talking about to see if we can't get russia to stop sending arms to the syrian government. and at least maybe get the sides together to have a cease-fire. what about the fact of all of the trade issues? in fact, the president had made -- remember, the president had said one of his priorities was to reset -- the phrase he used at the white house -- to reset the relationship between the united states and russia. trade is one of the big issues in resetting that relationship and normalizing our trade. human rights issues. here, we've got russian government that just passed some draconian legislation where you can't show any display of

homosexuality in russia. it is a federal crime to do so. they're going the other way on human rights. that's certainly something that would be worth talking about with vladimir putin. and then especially, the issue of arms reduction. as "the new york times" reports on the front page this morning, it says the first paragraph is that this -- canceling the summit could doom president obama's aspirations for further nuclear arms cuts before he leaves office. so i think it is important to understand that what we're throwing away is the opportunity to make any progress on human rights, on trade, missile defense, that's another thing that is a point of dispute between the two nations. so throwing away the opportunity to make any progress on human rights, trade, missile defense, arms control or syria because

we're pissed off about edward snowden. i mean, aren't we -- don't you think, maybe, we're overreacting to the snowden revelations, overreacting to russia's actions on behalf of snowden. and putting too much at risk because of our vexation over not being able to get snowed and bring him back here and put him on trial. 1-866-55-press. i think it's always better when both sides are talking. if we're still unhappy about snowden, i think it is better to sit down with putin and have it out with him on all of these issues. i think these other factors are much, much too important to just let slide because we're angry about edward snowden. silly move if you ask me. 1-866-55-press. let's talk about it here on the

"full court press" this thursday morning. ♪ get social with bill press, like us at facebook.com/billpressshow. this is the "bill press show." that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. ç]

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gripping, current. >> occupy! >> we will have class warfare. (vo) true stories, current perspective. documentaries. on current tv. >> announcer: live on free speech tv beginning september 3rd. visit freespeech.org to learn more. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey, here we are. 25 minutes after the hour on the "full court press." president obama yesterday says i know -- i was hoping to sign another arms control -- arms reduction treaty before i leave the white house. i'm willing to throw that away.

i'm so pissed off about not getting edward snowden back to put him on trial. really? really? that's your priority? i don't know. tim is calling -- peter, i'm sorry. >> on twitter at bpshow, at bpshow, women endure made a point this might not have to do with snowden. this has a lot to do with gay rights because of all of the gay rights issues that russia has been confronting. >> bill: well, again, i wish -- if the president had said that, i'm really angry that russia is not giving lgbt people the same rights as us. that would be a great statement. but he didn't say that. and even if there was a difference there, then go talk about it. >> that's something somebody pointed out, isn't the whole point of having a summit to iron out your issues. >> bill: you don't go to a

summit necessarily with somebody on which you agree with everything. bit way, i was reminded by -- look at some of the research i did last night on this point, president obama last -- i think it was last september, refused to meet with benjamin netanyahu when he was in washington. and wanted a meeting at the white house. the president said this is sort of maybe a little pattern on obama's part here. don't give me everything i want? >> so much for no drama obama. >> bill: screw you. hi, tim. >> caller: i agree with you, bill, absolutely, canceling -- the wrong thing to do and it shows you the tremendous influence that national security and military establishment has. not just over the president but the entire congress and what passes for our state today. >> bill: amen, amen. absolutely. that's a priority here. more important to make a point

about edward snowden than maybe make some progress on arms control. i think they've got their priorities bassackwards. ronald, good morning. >> caller: good morning. i'm glad to get your show out here. >> bill: thank you. >> caller: i'm trying to talk about the whole leaky ship, you know. mr. obama called the phony scandals, i don't think they're phony scandals at all. they're dramatic revelations. i was telling the producer, out here in california, we're loving this when the federal government's corruption and all of these areas is coming out, we're saying finally! we're not -- there actually is an evil. when it comes out -- >> bill: ron, i have to interrupt you in the interest of time. listen, i made that point as well. i still want to know what harm was done by what edward snowden

revealed. i don't see any at all. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

>> announcer: connect with the "bill press show" on twitter. follow us on bpshow and tweet using the hashtag watching bp. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. we got it. 33 minutes after the hour now. happy thursday, august 8th. as we do a little quick hopscotch over to the big stories of the day and take time out to take your comments by phone at 1-866-55-press. and we'll get back to the news of the day. first, here's something i urge you to consider and that is emergency link.com.

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link.com for this limited offer. go to emergencylink.com and enter the name "press." emergencylink.com and enter press. >> bill, we've talked a lot on the show about how the bankers who caused the financial crisis in 2008 sort of have skated and you haven't seen anything about it. well maybe the tide is turning yesterday, jpmorgan chase confirmed the department of justice is looking into them. they're under federal criminal investigation over the sale of mortgage securities and that is the biggest u.s. bank. so they're sort of turning their attention to that -- >> bill: remember, last week, the first guy was found guilty of peddling -- what he knew were fraudulent securities. and i think he was with jpmorgan chase. >> i think so. justice isn't dead. it is just extremely slow.

>> bill: takes a long time. this story really, really offends me. you've probably heard -- remember the 19 so-called hotshot fighters out in arizona who lost their lives fighting that last big wildfire out there. they were out -- had been dropped in the wilderness basically and they had these little survival kits and the wind shifted, the flames came back toward them, they got under these -- they're kind of like protective tents maybe or something. at any rate, lying flat on the ground. 19 of them out of 20 lost their lives and now, there is a flap with the city of -- is it prescott, arizona -- yeah, prescott, arizona, over getting lifetime benefits because it turns out that 13 of the 19 who

lost their lives were officially part-time employees. they weren't full-time employees. so all of the families of all 19 got a one-time payout of $338,000. $328,613. but the survivors will get lifetime benefits. the other 13 are told no, you don't qualify for lifetime benefits even though one of them -- this is a woman who's been a lot in the news lately, the widow of one of them, he was 29 years old. they have four kids. she was counting on those lifetime benefits so she could raise those kids. she's been denied those lifetime benefits even though her husband earned a full-time salary and they've got paperwork that

showed that he worked 40 hours a week year around but the city is still saying yeah but we hadn't officially recognized him as a full-time employee therefore they're denying him the lifetime benefits. i think this is so -- i don't know, so wrong! so fundamentally wrong. all 19 of them lost their lives. all 19 of them, i believe, the families of all 19 should get equal benefits. and i just hope that there's enough public shame on the city of prescott, arizona, that they would turn around and do the right thing. >> you hate to hear that. you hear stories like this every so often. the people that are supposed to take care of the people who take care of you get screwed in these situations. >> bill: where's jan brewer? step in on this and say hey, come on! this is not what arizona's all about. we're going to recognize the tremendous contribution that

these young guys made over the years. certainly giving their lives to protect lives and to protect property and now that they're gone, we're going to try to screw their families out of what they deserve? it is disgusting. i hope that turns around. on a much less serious front, but something that's also getting a little buzz this morning, on our competition, msnbc yesterday morning, mike brzezinski and joe scarborough, both good friends of mine on morning joe, got into it msnbc and micah is making the point that you know, people who say that msnbc is as far to the left as fox is to the right don't know what they're talking about. joe scarborough can't contain

himself. here's how it starts with mike. >> the elephant in the room is fox. >> i'm so confused. >> why doesn't he come on? >> reince priebus will come on. >> let's have him on tomorrow. i'll ask him. >> not really. >> why not? >> because i don't see msnbc going after democratic presidential candidates and trying to hire them or trying to push them into the forefront. everything you read is that roger ailes gets behind republican candidates. he puts them on the air. it is a mouthpiece for the republican party and the conservatives. it is. >> bill: so they're talking about this in the context, as we discussed yesterday, of reince priebus, the republican national chair, who warned nbc/msnbc and cnn if they went ahead with their documentary and mini series about hillary clinton, he was not going to sponsor any primary debates on those

channels. that's what that's in the context of what they were talking about. mica said how dare he put nbc and cnn on the line, the same as fox. you hear there, but joe can't leave it there. he's got to come on and make the point about msnbc as bad if not worse than fox. >> so here we go. i'm sorry. i can't -- i can't -- what do you think msnbc is at night? >> it is not the same at all. >> it is exactly the same! >> i don't think so. >> of course you don't think so because you're a democrat. >> i'm fair minded down the middle and in so much trouble right now, i really need dob calling my agent. back to you. >> bill: they quickly end that segment there. wrap it up, joe. i'm sure his producer in his ear is saying shut up!

look, you hear that all the time. and -- as a former employee of msnbc, there's no doubt msnbc leans left, right? i think it is -- i think mica is absolutely right and i think joe scarborough is dead wrong. i don't think msnbc is as far to the left. they're not as far to the left as fox is. i don't think they're a mouthpiece for the democratic national committee. the way fox is. >> okay. i don't agree with that at all. i mean, look -- >> bill: there it is. mica and joe right here. i would rather be mica than joe. >> well, you make a good point there. >> bill: all right. make your case. >> well, look, it seems like they have hired david axelrod, robert gibbs, they've got all kinds of people who worked for

obama. inner circle. >> bill: then you have joe scarborough and rick -- i'm sorry, i meant to say newt gingrich, no longer there but there at one time. and rick santorum and karl rove. >> i hear ya. i understand that they -- fox is sort of -- here's what i guess i would say. fox has cornered the market on failed republican presidential candidates. i think that they bring a certain circus -- >> bill: and sarah palin. >> it doesn't necessarily make them serious commentators but msnbc have real influential, serious democrats that they hire. and i think that that, in terms of how they program and how they put people on the show, it is no different. i mean it is a matter of ideology in the evening anyway. >> bill: here's the difference that i see. this is a longer conversation

we'll have another time because we want to talk to david jackson down at the white house. but i think -- if you listen to msnbc, let's take ed schultz, are you -- you'll hear ed be critical like i am of president obama whom we don't think he's doing the right thing. you will never hear sean hannity critical of george bush. you'll never hear sean hannity say anything positive about barack obama. >> that's a very fair point. >> bill: i think his orders come from the top from roger ailes. it was a good little debate they started yesterday morning. and that debate will continue and we'll talk to david jackson, "usa today," at the white house, when we come back. >> announcer: the "bill press show" is joining free speech tv starting september 3rd. find out how to watch at billpressshow.com.

>> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything.

>> bill: 12 minutes before the top of the hour. president obama back from a trip to the west coast talking about housing, talking more about housing on zillow yesterday. down to camp pendleton where he thanked the marines for their good work and said we've got to work together to work on this problem of sexual assault in the military. david jackson covers the white house for "usa today." joining us on our news line early this morning. hey, david, how are you? >> fine, bill, how are you? >> bill: so the president won't be in town long, huh? >> no. he's got some -- meeting the

greek prime minister today. got some meetings tomorrow. he does have a speech in orlando saturday to the disabled american veterans convention. but after that, it is off to martha's vin beyond a reasonable doubt for a week. >> bill: i was surprised he and the first lady are going to orlando. i guess they're going right from orlando then to martha's vineyard. >> that's right. then all the way back up to massachusetts. that's the plan right now. >> how long will they be on the vineyard? >> until a week from sunday. basically a week and both weekends. >> bill: the poor guy -- he can never get out of trouble or criticism. he's been to the vineyard three times already as president. but this year, they had to get a new house and with a whole new set of problems, right? >> exactly. he had been renting a house in past years had been sold so they had to find a new place which created a new challenge for the secret service in terms of

securing the place and all of that. any time the president goes on vacation, there is criticism. >> bill: i don't know the vineyard. been to nantucket but not the vineyard. apparently they've closed one of the cross island roads because the president's house is on that road. they've got some of the locals upset about it. >> after getting used to the deal with the first couple of times they went to the vineyard, they're going to have to find a new traffic pattern so it will create a whole new set of problems. >> bill: while he was on the road on the west coast, the white house announced yesterday at the briefings recently, david, you know, jay carney would say i don't have any announcement to make about whether or not we're going to meet with vladimir putin as planned. pulled the plug on that one, why? >> edward snowden is the most approximate reason. several problems between the u.s. and russia. they disagree over syria and

policy toward iran. there are some problems, as i understand it with a new attempt at doing nuclear arms cuts and one thing after another. president putin met in june and things didn't go well. if you look at the pictures that were snapped after that meeting, you can tell. so as jay carney would say, they didn't find much utility so they decided to scrap it. >> bill: they did say, as you point out, there are all of these other issues, right? the straw that broke the camel's back, if you will, was edward snowden, wasn't it? >> no doubt. i didn't see any way he could have a summit with putin as long as edward snowden was in russia. i think it would have exposed president obama to a lot of criticism and ridicule. i just didn't -- i never really counted on the fact there was going to be a meeting. they send out these advance teams, bill, on the foreign trips and the most recent advance team went to st. petersburg where the g-20 will be held. they didn't go to moscow.

i've been expecting this for quite some time. the only thing that surprised me was they made a big to do about it. they issued a formal statement about why they weren't going to have a meeting with putin in moscow. a lot of us wrote about it and it gave us all an opportunity to write about the problems with the u.s. and russia. i thought they might be low-key about the cancellation but they weren't. >> bill: i thought it was interesting "the new york times" pointing out the president may have risked any chance he has of getting another nuclear arms reduction treaty before the end of his term. >> i wonder about that. it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't get back together on that particular issue. >> bill: that's a lot to throw away over edward snowden. >> i noticed that, too. in reading. it is always possible. there is a lot of friction between both countries and between the president and president obama and president putin but yeah, something like that, i have my doubts. let's not forget, secretary of state kerry and defense secretary hagel are meeting with

russian counterparts this friday. it is not as if everybody in both countries are at each other's throats. it is just the two presidents aren't going to have this one particular meeting. there are still talks behind the scenes, they just won't be at the presidential level. >> bill: david, i was surprised to hear the president talk about getting rid of freddie mac and fannie mae. that's a major, major change, right? in the way -- in housing policy. is he really -- is that something he wants to accomplish before the end of his term? >> i somehow had my doubts that would happen given the other challenges they have. he wanted to put housing policy back front and center and he needed a new policy because he sees a housing program for several years now. they're upping the ante now. he feels like it is time for fannie and freddie have passed. as you say, it is a pretty giant step. i find it hard to believe they'll take it for the next six

months. >> bill: i think if immigration reform is a little higher priority. >> exactly. and the budget. debt ceiling. they've got a few more issues to tackle before they can handle fannie and freddie. >> bill: the senate is out of town. david, you ought to take some time off here. >> every time the president goes on vacation, something happens. you can bet your bottom dollar there will be some big news event they'll all be talking about. >> bill: we have a briefing today at 12:30, i'll see you later at the white house. >> you, too, bill. >> announcer: follow us on twitter at bpshow. this is the "bill press show." pacific ocean border. the bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. i do a lot of looking at those people as well. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them right?

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>> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: all right. in the next hour, we'll have reporters from politico and now this news. bring us up to date on the events of the day. peter? >> you can leave us a comment on twitter at bpshow at bpshow. join the conversation there. a lot of people joining in on the msnbc and fox comparisons. honey bear kelly says none of the people you mentioned are -- that i mentioned were running for office. fox hires presidential candidates. and sam says bill, fire peter. he's an undercover republican. that's not true. >> bill: oh! our own joe scarborough.

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[ ♪ theme ] >> bill: good thursday morning. it is thursday, august 8. good see you this morning, everybody. thanks for joining us here on the "full court press." how about it. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital and our studio on capitol hill. washington, d.c., just down the street from the united states capitol building. kind of quiet here in washington these days as we've been telling you with the house and the senate off on their five-week break. president obama is back at the white house today after saluting

marines at camp pendleton yesterday. he comes back, of course to a ghost town. that's not a big problem because he's only going to be here a couple of days before he goes off to martha's vineyard with his family for their little summer vacation. well, one person we know that the president will not be playing golf with on martha's vineyard is vladimir putin. in fact, the president yesterday canceled his upcoming summit with vladimir putin because he is pissed that putin gave edward snowden a one-year asylum or amnesty in -- asylum i guess is the right word in russia. even though the united states had begged him not to. we'll bring you up to date on that and all of the rest of the news of the day and ask you -- give you a chance to comment on what it all means to you. you can do so by phone at 1-866-55-press. join us on twitter at bpshow and

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>> yes! >> only on current tv. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: president obama tells vladimir putin take your summit and shove it! hey, good morning, everybody. what do you say? it is a great big thursday. thursday, august 8th. so good to see you today. welcome to the "full court press" right here on your local progressive talk radio station. number one. most importantly. and on current tv.

good to have you with us today. look forward to discussing the issues with you and taking your comments at 1-866-55-press. our toll free number. look forward to getting your comments on twitter at bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. don't forget a week from today is our last day on current tv, radio audience, fear not. everything stays the same. no changes, no changes, but on television, current tv goes away next thursday. we -- that's our last show, of course, and then we'll take a two-week hiatus and pop up on free speech tv on september 3rd. so you can watch us on -- if you have a satellite dish from that day on, either on dish network or on directv, watch us on your television set. you can watch us online on your computer at freespeech.org.

so if you want to know all of your options, go to freespeech.org as of september 3rd and you'll have more options than you have today. so actually, this is good news. we're going to really expand the opportunities for you to listen and to watch us. very excited about that. whole team here has been working hard on that on the transition. peter ogborn and dan henning. >> hey, hey. >> good morning. >> bill: with alichia cruz on the phones and cyprian bowlding on the video cams this morning. the whole team. a new book is making a little -- is making waves about a new revelation. we knew that john f. kennedy and marilyn monroe might have had something going. >> might have? >> bill: remember he had the big birthday party at madison square garden and marilyn monroe was there to sing happy birthday to him. ♪ happy birthday to you

♪ happy birthday to you ♪ happy birthday, mr. president ♪ ♪ happy birthday to you >> bill: there she is. >> all the proof you need. >> bill: this new book out called "these precious few days, the final year of jack with jackie" reports that christopher anderson is the author, reports that marilyn monroe actually called the white house and talked to jackie and told jackie that jfk planned to divorce her and marry -- divorce jackie and marry marilyn. actually called her and told the first lady that. according to this book, jackie

kennedy responded and you will move into the white house and you will assume the responsibilities of first lady and i will move out and you will have all of the problems. >> there you go. >> bill: i would be surprised if she had that level of response. that's a juicy little bit of gossip to start the day. you know what? i do believe that marilyn monroe would have had the lack of judgment -- >> oh, sure. >> bill: to call the white house and say i just want you to know your husband says he's going to marry me. >> what a nightmare. >> bill: how many men have made that claim? don't worry, honey. yeah, right. >> i really want to be with you. you get me. >> bill: all right. there we go. your gossip column for the morning. >> gross. >> bill: joe cirincione from the ploughshares sphund going to join us.

yemen and egypt and what's going on. chris will be here, democratic strategist, as a "friend of bill." we'll kick off this hour with politico. but first... >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this thursday, there were three powerball jackpot winner last night. one in minnesota. two in new jersey. they will split the $448 million jackpot three ways getting about $149 million each before taxes. we have no idea who the winners are yet. if they're three people or multiple people. >> bill: i'm not one of them. >> there were three $2 million winners and at least 16 $1 million. >> bill: what do you need to do to win $1 million? >> get five without the powerball. >> bill: really? so i got the powerball. wait. they get five without the powerball and they get a million. so i should get a half a million because i got the powerball.

>> that's how it works though. >> bill: and i get $4 lousy. >> after spending $6. so congratulations. >> bill: you know what? i'm going to go get those $4 when i leave the studio, i'm going to collect my $4. >> what does that say about us? you feel like you won something but in reality, you lost money. >> he won on the won ticket. he won on the one ticket. >> no, he lost money. >> yes, but on one ticket, he won money. >> bill: i doubled my money. >> exactly but you lost money. >> bill: i'm a sucker. >> don't swim close to michael phelps, the olympic gold medalist was asked by tmz if he peas in the pool. he responded of course, everyone pees in the pool. he said it is normal for everybody to pee in the pool. >> bill: olympic swimmers pee in the pool? and one of the nation's most

historic cemeteries has been overrun with weeds. it is getting cleaned up this week in a very greenway. in a very green way. the folks at the cemetery where members of congress are buried have brought in about 60 goats to graze across the 35-acre property. [ laughter ] [dan hiccups] >> bill: i've never heard anyone hiccup on the air. >> they brought in 60 goats to graze and in turn, they'll fertilize the property as well. it is cheaper and better for the environment than using pesticides. they will eat for a week. >> bill: so funny. watch out. cyprian is going to -- he's going to scare you to get rid of the hiccups. >> i didn't even listen to the

last story. >> bill: i did because i want to add for all of you -- and who doesn't come to washington, right? big tourist town here, one of the places that is out of the way but you really ought to try to go to is the congressional cemetery. it is not far from our studio. i know it well. and it is really very, very interesting to walk through. john phillip sousa is buried there. and j. edgar hoover is buried there. just down the way from j. edgar hoover's grave is the grave of his paramour, his lover, allegedly, clyde tollson. >> allegedly the same way jfk and marilyn monroe -- >> bill: congressional cemetery. put it on your list the next time you come down. and maybe run into a goat while you're there. president obama back in the white house, not for very long. what's his agenda? what's he working on these days?

rebecca cinder brand from politico is a deputy white house editor joining us on our news line this morning. hi, rebecca, how is it going? >> good. >> bill: president obama on his west coast swing. phoenix and then in california. the focus on housing and what was the president's message, reb be eka? >> kind of interesting. we heard more about the president's agenda on housing and the interesting part isn't just what he had to say. it is when he had to say it which is right now. obviously there are a lot of democratic groups out there. he's pressed the administration to get more involved during the actual housing crisis. the proposal they unveiled this week have long had support in the white house, you know. both the ones involving getting fannie and freddie which have a lot of support for republicans, too, also the ones that involve

focusing on government still playing some role in the market. >> bill: the president -- let's talk about tanny and freddie. i don't really understand this in the sense that is this real? do you think this could really happen? >> you know, it's possible only because -- well, it is possible in the sense that the idea, the framework of getting rid of fannie and freddie as they currently exist has support on both sides. what doesn't have a lot of consensus between the parties obviously is what happens to replace it. the president -- the federal government still needs to have a role in the housing market. and republicans just don't see that. so, you know, placement is the thick. that's one big unanswered question from this. the way it kind of shapes -- plays out could mean the future ends up looking a lot like the

past just not very recent past. we could be look at a fannie and freddie. they're a lot more like they were a couple of decades ago. you know. they're a lot bigger now than they were in the past. the president says don't big. obviously republicans agree with him on that front. a couple of proposals -- them going back to what it looks like in the '80s. >> bill: i heard the president say -- i'm paraphrasing here roughly that we need -- the private sector to have a bigger role in housing and the federal government to have a smaller role in housing. this is not my area of expertise. but didn't the private sector get us in trouble in the first place and that's why we have fannie mae and freddie to guarantee these mortgages and to protect homeowners from some of the banks?

>> right. here's the issue. what the president is essentially saying is that the existence of fannie and freddie makes it lower risk for some of these companies to kind of gamble in mortgage-backed securities. they have the feeling the federal government will always be there for them. >> bill: to bail them out. >> that's right. the kind of new proposal the president was outlining, basically says look, the federal government will still be there but you know, these private lenders, they're going to have to pay dearly for the backing for these mortgage-backed securities. pretty careful about who they lend to. a lot more careful if they know that they're -- they have to pay through the nose for it. and b, the government is not necessarily going to be there for them for the riskiest moves they would make. >> bill: rebecca sinderbrand from politico joining us on the news line.

the biggest news is not anything the president said in phoenix or zillow or camp pendleton but the white house saying we're not going to have a sum wit vladimir putin after all. >> it is interesting to see the drama over this summit. initially when it was first announced, it was -- it seemed like a done deal. there weren't any details released. but the president go to st. petersburg, of course, be with putin in moscow. then last month we start getting this throat clearing say we've been looking back at the last 12 months of our relationship. we're not all that convinced that now is a good time. of course, it's not just edward snowden. you know. this is not the ultimate reason for this if you look back at the last couple of meetings the u.s. and russia have had, they've been spectacularly unproductive. snowden can be the straw that

broke the camel's back. but he's by no means the only reason for this. and so, you know, we heard from jay carney earlier this week. you'll hear in the next few days, a final word about whether we're going. >> bill: i was there at the briefing when he said that. >> that's right. and now we have it. and almost in the same breath, a trip to our important partner, sweden. so, you know, slight change in itinerary. so very careful, the white house is very careful to frame this, not as a cancellation but as a postponement. and you know, also very careful to note look, that secretary of defense, secretary of state are still going to be meeting with the russian counterparts. they don't want this to be seen as a definitive break to cold war era but definitely trying to send a message they're not happy with the current relation.

>> bill: the pictures -- if we remember that the photographs that we saw from the last meeting of putin and obama -- >> that's true. >> bill: it is pretty clear the two of them, they don't like each ore, right? >> you can write a novel about the body language, yeah. >> bill: icy indeed. we have another briefing today. we'll give jay carney a chance to twist and turn and try to explain exactly how this happened. rebecca, thanks so much, rebecca. good to talk with you today. >> thanks for having me. >> bill: deputy white house editor for politico. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." the issues of the day. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war, you must be high. >> only on current tv.

>> did anyone tell the pilgrims they should self-deport? >> no, they said "make us a turkey and make it fast". >> (laughter). >> she gets the comedians laughing. >> that's the best! >> that's hilarious. >> ... and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there is wiggle room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> she's joy behar. >> ya, i consider you

jew-talian. >> okay, whatever you want. >> who plays kafka? >> who saw kafka? >> who ever saw kafka? >> (laughter). >> asking the tough questions. >> chris brown, i mean you wouldn't let one of your daughters go out with him. >> absolutely not. >> you would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me? >> absolutely! >> (singing) >> i take lipitor, thats it. >> are you improving your lips? >> (laughter). >> when she's talking, you never know where the conversation is going to go. >> it looks like anthony wiener is throwing his hat in the ring. >> his what in the ring? >> his hat. >> always outspoken, joy behar. >> and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

>> bill: 26 minutes after the hour. thursday, august 8th. the "full court press." yes, indeed. as we just reminded you there, big change coming up next week on the tv side of the equation. nothing changes on the radio side. thanks to our great, local progressive talk radio stations. tv, you know, current tv going bye-bye next thursday. a week from today is our last show on current tv. then we'll have a two-week hiatus. on september 3rd, we pop back up on television on free speech tv. you can get free speech if you have a satellite dish on the dish network or on directv. either one. satellite.

and if you don't have a dish, you're on cable. you can go to your computer instead of your tv set. go to freespeech.org and stream the show live. freespeech.org. all of the possibilities exist there if you go to freespeech.org. we'll continue to stay with you online, on tv, on radio all the way through. peter? >> in maryland, a republican lawmaker by the name of don dwyer jr. yesterday pled guilty for boating while drunk. he was involved in a collision about a year ago. he was driving a 27 foot powerboat named the legislator and he crashed it. it sent him to the hospital and a couple of other people to the hospital with some injuries. but it turns out he was measured at almost three times the legal limit. >> bill: by the way, i'm not a boater, right. but this is a serious problem.

dan, are you around the water. >> absolutely. i'm a bother. >> bill: this is a serious problem. >> big time. a lot of people think they're out on the water, have a good time, pop a few beers. you're still driving a machine. >> bill: i see that every time i'm around small craft. there are no rules, no -- they're not pulling people over and doing breathalyzer tests on people. >> they are. not as much as they do on the road but they are. >> bill: they should. because i think you're out on the water, what do you do? >> i don't think i've ever been out on a boat without a drink. not a case but i've had a beer. >> i've been pulled over by the coast guard. not often but it happens. >> bill: i'm glad to hear that. i wish they did more of it. when we come back, now this news, julie eckert will join us right here on the "full court press." don't forget, you're welcome to join the conversation at 1-866-55-press.

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>> announcer: bet social with bill press. like us at facebook.com/billpressshow. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: on a thursday morning, here we go. the "full court press" coming to you live from our nation's capital on this summer day. thursday, august 8. great to see you. as we tackle the stories of the day and the politics of the day, believe it or not, this is an off-year but there's a lot of fun stuff going on between chris christie and rand paul and the rnc going out after nbc and cnn

for their plans for a hillary documentary. and governor's race in virginia and a big senate race down in kentucky. that's next year. but they've already started -- very lively exchanges down in kentucky. julie eckert is just back from kentucky. she is with now this news. joining us in studio this morning. >> hi, good to see you. >> bill: so you were in fancy farm kentucky. >> i was. >> bill: that's the name of the town. >> fancy farm, kentucky. >> is it fancy? >> it's not super fancy but you know, it is a great picnic. it is 133-year-old tradition. it has become this hub for the political stump speeches and there's a lot of, you know -- >> bill: everybody shows up, right? >> everybody shows up. they have more democrats this year than ever before. show up to join in the heckling so that was very interesting.

>> bill: so they have -- democrats and republican speakers, candidates, right? >> correct. >> bill: they're allowed -- they're invited to, i guess the idea is they heckle the other side, right? >> exactly. i don't know how it -- there were a few ground rules. no profanity. >> bill: can you throw things? >> no. that was another rule. no tomatoes. >> bill: what a difference from the presidential debates when they say now the first thing is we have to tell the audience, no applause, no laughter. no breathing, basically. with this, it is anything goes. >> there were noisemakers, there were signs. preplanned chanting, all of the above. >> i kind of love that. >> bill: i do, too, it is a free for all. my first question though, in a

situation like that, it seems to me the person who would be the least comfortable on the planet would be mitch mcconnell. did he look like it? >> he spoke -- his speech, i have to say was not as enthused as his other two candidates. did he actually leave the stage before his tea party challenger matt bevin spoke which was interesting. he stayed for allison lundergan grimes' speech. >> bill: the democratic candidate. >> correct. it is not his venue, i would say. he's under a lot of pressure from all different angles right now. >> bill: did he look comfortable, down home? >> he knows how to speak. he had his denim shirt on. he was down there in kentucky, in his home state. but the other two candidates, i would have to say, they came out a little bit stronger in the speeches. >> bill: now, tell us about allison lundergan grimes.

just from what i've seen from a distance, i think she's dynamite. >> she is very magnetic. she had her grandmother there with her sitting on stage with her which was one of our favorite parts when we went down. we talked to grandma and she's throughout supporting her grandmother. it is a family affair for them. but she was very magnetic and she had a lot of her supporters come out and there were a lot of people that were in favor of what she's doing. >> bill: i think -- do you remember the kidney stone line? >> from -- >> bill: from allison. >> oh, yeah. that's right. she said i think that even if mcconnell a kidney stone, he would refuse to pass it. of something similar. i can't quite quote it. >> bill: i think that's one of the best lines in politics i've ever heard. it looks like she's going to be a formidable challenge to

whoever the republican nominee is. but mitch mcconnell does have a tea party challenger. >> he does. >> bill: thanks to you, we appreciate it. thank you for this audio of matt bevin. matt bevin who is the tea party challenger to mitch mcconnell here challenging mcconnell to man up. >> i beg him to tell the people of kentucky anything that he promises to do in the next six years that he's been somehow unable to get done in the last 30 years. i challenge him to tell us one thing or one thing in the last 30 years that he's proud enough of that he can actually run on that as opposed to smearing me and allison and ed and anyone else in the race. it is beneath the dignity of the office he holds and i am asking him to be a man, run on his record, david will win. david will win. >> bill: david will defeat

goliath. >> that was the question we asked. is this a david and goliath kind of race and it is. he was very confident. >> bill: he sounds like -- pretty articulate guy. what's his background? tell us about mike bevin. >> he's a businessman. he's running on the tea party platform. he has his whole gaggle of kids there which was great to see it. but you know, i think -- i asked him, you know, young people are pretty disillusioned with the g.o.p. what are you going to do to address this? and he just believes that you know, having someone set up in washington for years and years and years is not beneficial to the state of kentucky, to young people in kentucky and across the country. so he actually surprised me with how articulate he was. and how confident he is in this race. >> bill: well it often happens at the federal level and at the state level that those who get

in a leadership position, they become really kind of like big shots in the state capital or in the nation's capital and they lose a lot of support back home, right? because they lose track. they lose touch with the people. they're not delivering the services the way they did. they're focusing too much on their leadership role. do you have a sense that that's happened to mitch mcconnell? >> i think that in a way, it has inevitably, just because of the nature of the job. he now has to run a primary campaign, re-elect -- win re-election, try to win the senate. he's also wrangling all of the guys up in washington. he has a lot on his plate right now. so it is going to be challenging for him, i believe, to balance all of that. but when you're the leader, you know a lot of your focus does have to be on the caucus, on what's going on in washington. and i think that it is sometimes

difficult to stay in touch with people back home. however, i mean there were a bunch of mcconnell supporters that did come out. there was also someone i talked to who was undecided. she had a mcconnell t-shirt on and she went up to a tea partier and was talking to someone who was campaigning for bev and said tell me why i should vote for matt bevin. they had this great, long discussion about it. i think there's some question down there as to what people are going to do. >> bill: you mentioned the youth vote. were there many young people there at all? >> you know, there were significant amount of young people but it is generally the older crowd down there. people bring their kids. but it was a good mix. and people are very passionate about their candidates.

>> plus there's mutton. i think it shows when you look at mcconnell has been in d.c. and has sort of tied himself -- one of the faces of washington, d.c. but then when you look in wyoming like mike enzi who is not a d.c. guy. who has been there for wyoming, he's not -- you know t doesn't look like he's going to really get overturned by liz cheney. she's not starting out strong. she doesn't pose much of a threat to him. it shows -- you stay home and put your nose down and you work for the constituents and you show that, then -- >> bill: he's the opposite of a mitch mcconnell, mike enzi is. his whole focus is i want to deliver for the people of wyoming. doesn't try to get national headlines. he's not like chuck schumer running around chasing the tv cameras, you know. wee come on this show. he wouldn't even go on fox news. i don't think i've seen him on fox.

>> i think they were focused on kentucky and mcconnell has to focus on both races so they were able to deliver all of their focus there. >> bill: i want to ask you about the big flap over the planned documentary and mini series on hillary clinton but first, michael is calling from out in portland, oregon with a comment or question about mitch mcconnell. hi, michael. >> caller: hi, bill. i wanted to know what -- good morning to you -- i just wanted to know whether or not there is still a southern strategy involved in the republican party because it doesn't seem that mitch mcconnell, given the congressional ratings, is very popular even among the south. can you answer that for me, please? >> bill: well, thanks, michael for the call. i think the phrase southern strategy was a richard nixon

phrase for winning the south and winning the south basically by taking care of the white vote and ignoring or working against the african-american vote. i don't know that that's still the open agenda for the republican party. i guess i rephrase michael's question. is there a democratic strategy to win the south because the south today basically is in g.o.p. hands. in some states like north carolina, it is getting worse. >> i think that there's an opening for them to create a strategy because, as we've seen, the g.o.p. is increasingly divided. and you know, that's a problem for the party. so i think that democratic party can manage to play off those weaknesses of this time of indecision of what the future of the g.o.p. is going to look like, then that means trouble for republicans in 2014. you have to win six seats in the

senate. >> bill: because if you look at an electoral map, right, it is basically blue. new england, blue. midwest, that red states in the south. this very to hold on to them. mitch mcconnell may be imperilled. okay. hillary, is it fair for nbc and cnn to plan this documentary? we'll get back into that with julie eckert from now this news. your comments welcome at 1-866-55-press.

alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not

bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. current tv is the place for true stories. with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. real, gripping, current. documentaries... on current tv.

>> announcer: startling live on free speech tv on september 3rd, learn more on billpressshow.com. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. 11 minutes before the top of the hour. chris is in studio with us as a "friend of bill" for the next hour. democratic strategist and then joe cirincione from the ploughshares fund. back to our conversation with julie eckert from now this news. and her reports on the political scene in just a second here. first, this story caught my attention out of iowa. a woman charged with identity theft after allegedly using the identification of her ex-husband, boy, identity thieves will stop at nothing. using his identity to open lines of credit and purchase merchandise online. she faces a prison term of up to five years. hear a story like that, remind you how -- remind you how

omnipresent identity theft is and why you should be protected against it as i am with lifelock ultimate. the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection available. even monitors your bank accounts but lifelock services can't protect you or your bank account if you're not a member. of course, visit lifelock.com or call and mention press 10. you'll get 10% off your lifelock ultimate membership. that number to call, 1-800-356-5967 for lifelock ultimate. so julie, reince priebus says -- msnbc, nbc, cnn, you go ahead with the hillary documentaries, you're not going to get any primaries on your channels. is this a form of censorship or do you think he's got a point? >> you know, i always like to think about what the reaction

would be if the shoe was on the other foot. if the situation was reversed. how would the other party react? >> bill: if fox news were doing a documentary on marco rubio or your rand paul, chris christie, whomever. you know, you have to think how the other side would react. there hasn't really been, from what i've seen, a documentary made of this type that's been broadcast on these networks. i know cnn film that i believe is actually producing it. >> bill: nbc would be a mini series on television and cnn films would be a documentary shown in theatres. to answer your question, if fox news did a four-hour mini series on marco rubio, i would be raising holy hell. >> right. this is a race. the media is going to influence people regardless of if they recognize it is a cnn film or

mini doc. they'll be influenced by the message that comes across, if she looks good or bad or if they make her look heroic. you would assume that any documentary made on a candidate talking about their life is going to make them come off, you know, rather well. so, it is a concern. i don't think he's completely offbase in saying hey, what's going on here. >> bill: it's interesting that he's even won the support of media matters for america. left-leaning organization whose founder david brock wrote a letter to the two networks saying they ought to rethink this because it raised questions of fairness and potential conflict of interest. and then maureen dowd yesterday in the "new york times" saying on this one issue, reince priebus was right.

>> it absolutely does. it's going to be a tough race to begin with but i think even if this does happen, and they don't pull these -- this doc and this mini series, young people especially are going to decide for themselves in this election. i don't know how much sway a doc or mini series is going to have but it is still definitely something to be concerned about. >> bill: no doubt they do have an impact. they do have an impact. so here's what i want you to do next is go out and track down chris christie and rand paul, okay, and make that your next challenge. get some good stuff and tell us about it. >> oh, absolutely. >> bill: this is a fun kind of contest to watch. >> it's only going to get more fun, i think. >> bill: yeah. but, of course, chris christie is so busy, he doesn't have time

to have a beer with rand paul. >> what can you do? >> bill: julie, nice to see you. >> thank you so much. >> bill: now, this news. you can follow them at nowthisnews.com. i'll come back and tell you what the president is up to today. >> announcer: go mobile with bill press. download podcasts at billpressshow.com and listen any time, anywhere. this is the "bill press show." you must be high. >> i think the number one thing that viewers like about "the young turks" is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. >> you're putting out there something that you're proud of. journalists want the the story and they want the right story and the want the true story. >> you can say anything here. >> i spent a couple of hours

with a hooker. >> your mistake was writing a check. >> she never cashed it! >> the war room. >> compared to other countries with tighter gun safety laws, our death toll is just staggering. >> the young turks. >> the top bankers who funneled all the money to the drug lords, no sentence. there's just no justice in that. >> viewpoint. >> carl rove said today that mitt romney is a lock to win next pope. he's garunteeing it. >> joy behar: say anything. >> is the bottom line then that no white person should ever, ever, ever use the "n" word? >> yes! >> only on current tv.

>> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war, you must be high. >> only on current tv.

you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

>> bill: president obama back from the west coast yesterday. got back at 10:00 last night at the white house after greeting the marines at camp pendleton yesterday, thanking them for their service and telling them that we all had to work together to do something about this problem of sexual assault in the military. he's in town for a couple of days only before he heads down to orlando for a speech and then up to martha's vineyard for a week's vacation with the family. today, he will get the daily briefing at 10:15 this morning, following up this afternoon at 2:55 with a meeting with the prime minister of greece in the oval office. and jay carney holds his daily press briefing at 12:30 this afternoon. in the james brady briefing room. i will be there. we'll tell you all about it tomorrow.

[ ♪ theme ] >> bill: good morning, good morning. it is thursday. thursday, august 8. great to see you today. welcome to the "full court press" right here on current tv. and on your local progressive talk radio station. we're coming to you live from washington, d.c., our nation's capital, powerful city on the planet as we say. we're on capitol hill just down the street from the united states capitol building and president obama is back in town after his swing to the west

coast. first in phoenix talking housing then out to los angeles where he appeared on "the tonight show" with jay leno. gave an interview yesterday on zillow and answered questions about his housing policy and then on down to camp pendleton where he, again, thanked the marines for their service. he is back in town for what is basically a ghost town with the house and the senate out of town but it doesn't really make any difference. the president's only here until saturday morning when he heads down with the first lady to orlando for a speech and then goes directly up to martha's vineyard for a long week vacation. one thing for sure, the president will not be playing golf with vladimir putin while he's in martha's vineyard. in fact, yesterday, the president canceled his scheduled summit with putin early next month because he is still pretty pissed over the fact that vladimir putin extended a year

asylum to edward snowden. all of that coming up right here on current tv. to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal, or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i'm given to doing anyway, by staying in touch with everything that is my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. i've worn lots of hats, but i've always kept this going. i've been doing politics now for a dozen years. (vo) he's been called the epic politics man. he's michael shure and his arena is the war room. >> these republicans in congress that think the world ends at the atlantic ocean border and pacific ocean border. the bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. i do a lot of looking at those people as well. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the

minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them right?

we have a big, big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. (vo) sharp tongue. >>excuse me? (vo) quick wit. smell like cookies and freedom. (vo) and above all, opinion and attitude. >> really?! this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. >> you know what those people are like. >> what could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush? >> my producer just coughed up a hairball. >>sorry. >>just be grateful current tv doesn't come in "smell-o-vision" >> oh come on!

the sweatshirt is nice and all, but i could use a golden lasso. (vo)only on current tv. >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: president obama tells vladimir putin you can take your stinkin' summit and shove it! i ain't comin'! good morning, everybody. what do you say? edward snowden, he's upset about that, isn't he? good to see you this morning, welcome, welcome, welcome to the "full court press" on a thursday morning, august 8th. great to see you today. thank you for joining us on your local progressive talk radio station all across this land.

lucky if you've got one. thank you for joining us on current tv. those of who you are still hanging in there with current tv for another week. good to have you with us. we'll look forward to hearing from you, too, at 1-866-55-press or on twitter at bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. i mentioned a little bit earlier, the president is meeting this afternoon with the greek prime minister. but before that meeting, the greek prime minister joins us in studio this morning, chris cofeign is, this is the warm-up act for your meeting later with the president. nice to see you. prime minister. >> for anyone who is greek listening will know what i just said. >> did you just curse in greek? >> no. maybe i should. should i curse to the current tv folks? am i allowed to do that? >> bill: you can do it in

greek. [ speaking foreign language ] >> bill: take that. >> should i dump this? >> no. >> don't worry. you're fine. no one understood that. [ laughter ] >> there's some sweet old greek lady somewhere going oh! >> some greek listener just crashed their car. i'm going to get a phone call from my mother, how dare you do this! did i raise a boy like this? >> bill: will you tell us off the air what you just said? >> i said essentially go to hell. i could have done worse. >> bill: i've done worse. >> he's said worse in english. [ laughter ] >> what have you said before, bill? >> don't, don't, don't! >> don't take you off the -- they'll take you off the air of current if you say that. >> next week. >> bill: they'll pull the plug. >> can i be here for the smashing of the current tv

supply? that's always my exciting -- i love that. school is over. you're trying to figure out what you can destroy. >> bill: we'll do that next week. camera, lights, damn it, al gore. joel hiott. >> al gore is sitting in a bathtub full of money going -- [ speaking foreign language ] bezos. >> bill: bezos is no dummy. he got "the washington post" for one half of what al gore was paid. >> i was just $2er -- i was just $249.9 million short. did i mention chris kofinis is

here as a "friend of bill" before we throw him out. joining the team, peter ogborn and dan henning with alichia cruz on the phones. cyprian bowlding on the video cam. last night, guess who's back. jimmy fallon pointed out last night, we haven't heard from him since last november. mitt romney. >> mitt romney is back in the news, believe it or not. that's right. during a fund-raiser last night, mitt romney told republicans they need to pick a candidate for 2016 who can actually win. [ laughter ] >> and republicans said yeah, wish you had told us that last year. what are you waiting for, man? >> bill: you knew where he was going with it. >> yeah. in fairness to romney, he was only gone 47% of the time. let's be honest. >> bill: chris is here for this hour and then as a "friend of bill," joe cirincione from the ploughshares fund joining us to talk about the now-canceled

summit about what's happening in yemen and the foreign policy stuff. but first... >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> hopefully i lost the hiccups. other headlines making news -- you cannot mix business with pleasure in the nba. a rookie player for the minnesota timberwolves was dismissed by the league from the rookie transition program because he had a female guest in his hotel room. shabazz mohammed will likely be fined about $20,000 based on previous fines. he will have to repeat the rookie program next year. he was selected 13th overall in this year's nba draft. now, he's got to sit out. >> bill: that's a little severe, you don't think? you pay a $20,000 fine? >> should have learned to keep it to sexting just like anthony weiner. once you try to make it formal, you get in trouble.

>> bill: could have found a hooker for less than $20,000. >> exactly. that's crazy. you know, bryant gumbel got in a lot of trouble when he said that the nba treats a lot of their players and commissioner treats him like he's a plantation owner. >> bill: sounds like it. >> that's outrageous. >> bruce willis he's replaced by harrison ford in the upcoming expendables three movie and no one is happier than co-star sill vister stallone. he tweeted willis out, ford in. been waiting years for this. went on to call bruce willis lazy and greedy. no response from willis yet. arnold schwarzenegger and jason statham are among the other stars in the film. no reaction from them either. >> can't wait for rocky 12. [ laughter ] >> bill: the other guy -- was in studio -- >> randy couture was in studio. >> one of the nation's most

historic cemeteries has been overrun with weeds, now as high as seven feet tall. it is getting cleaned up in a very green way. it is the congressional cemetery here in washington where a vice president, many cabinet members and former members of congress are buried. they brought in 60 goats to graze across the 35 acre property. in turn, they will, of course, fertilize it as well. it is cheaper and better for the environment than using pesticides. they will eat for about a week. >> bill: there you go. >> the question there is who's more productive? those folks in the ground or those folks above the ground? >> bill: i have to come to the defense of the congressional certainty. it is not far from here. it is not that the cemetery is overgrown. it is the area around the cemetery. there is a group -- we give them money, too, that takes care of the cemetery. they do a pretty good job but it is a very interesting place to go. i always advise people that's one place that will not be on your regular tourist -- the tour

buses don't stop there but john phillip sousa is buried there. j. edgar hoover and clyde tollson. >> i'm happy that the goat herders have some work. it has been a tough economy form the goat herders. >> tough market. >> bill: not a lot of call. the washington mall. maybe they'll let them loose on the washington mall. oh, man, where are we going? chris is out of control today. there is another chris out of control. chris christie, poor rand paul. we had a little spat. maybe we should get together and have a beer and work it out. chris christie says i don't have time to have a beer with you. what's going on here? >> what's going on here is it is indicative of a republican party that seems to spend as much time fighting amongst itself as it does with democrats. think about this. we've been talking about this now for years.

this schizophrenic republican party that's really divided. >> bill: it is just coming to the surface now? >> it has been at the surface and now i think what's happening, you have -- you know, you have individuals who are clearly positioning themselves for 2016 run. there is going to be a real fight between the libertarian wing and you know, the difference between paul -- senator paul and his father. senator paul is pretty which wan some of the things that he says but he also has a very passionate base of supporters. and my guess is a little bit more crossover appeal than his dad does. he seems to be more -- a little bit of a polished politician. still says stuff that's out there to say the least but he's better at the game than his dad. so i think christie and others are kind of worried about that. i personally think it was foolish of christie to start the battle. why bother. it is like three years out.

but christie has not been known to be able to check his mouth. that's his strength and his weakness. >> bill: but the two -- the two of them, you're right. this libertarian, how far they go. more libertarian than tea party. >> yeah, that's right. >> bill: now chris christie suddenly becomes the national security part. the bush/cheney. >> that's the part -- you couldn't argue -- >> bill: strange one. >> that's the part that's weird. of all of the things you're going to argue about. you're going to argue about national security. i hate to say it but where rand paul is on national security in terms of not wanting any additional foreign involvements or entanglements, questioning for the drones -- >> bill: and nsa. >> and nsa, that is where a nice, small percentage of the country is especially when it comes to the war. that's where the majority is. people are done. with iraq. they're done obviously with afghanistan. they want to move on.

and going out there and sounding hawkish or super hawkish, i mean does chris christie think he's going to win the presidency by what, outhawking the next democratic opponent or republican opponent? i don't know. maybe on the republican side it may work but it won't work in the general. >> bill: the other thing i find curious and where the split in the republican party has come to play is in the whole issue of immigration reform, right? you would think again, it would be a no-brainer, right? hey, we've got a problem. this is one way we can help fix that problem, right. instead, they just look -- john boehner refuses to bring the senate bill up for a vote. >> i think john boehner knows that if he did and he didn't open it up, he would lose. that there's no way -- >> bill: back to the hastert rule. >> the senate bill would not pass with a majority of republicans. it just wouldn't. and so he knows that. i think he's worried about his

own personal future and at the end of the day, i think boehner is in an impossible position in fairness to him, he's not a strong speaker. i'm not sure who could be under these circumstances. >> bill: then you get lindsey graham and others who are saying karl rove, if we don't do something about immigration reform, lindsey graham used the phrase death spiral or throw away any chance of winning the white house back. given that which i think is true, this reality, at least it will make it a lot more difficult. what are -- what are the republicans who are fighting this thinking? >> everyone keeps trying to convince certain republicans like the cruzs and others of the republican party that here are the political consequences for the party if we don't do this. they don't care because their perspective is the country will come to their position at some point. keep holding your breath. because the reality of what

we've seen over the last few elections is the country has moved in a more centrist, progressive direction. you've seen it on gay rights. think about the evolution we've had in just -- less than ten years. it is unbelievable. >> bill: absolutely. i think the same is true obviously on immigration. >> a little less so on choice but still, definitely an evolution. and i think part of it is the republican party, especially immigration is just not there in the house. they're just not there. i think they've got to come to terms with the fact they may be able to survive the political consequences because of the way the midterm elections pan out. but in the general, in 2016 during the presidential, it will be catastrophic. >> bill: what you just said about the progress this country has made when it comes to the lgbt community, came home to me dramatically yesterday. i was at the state department in the benjamin franklin room, great ceremonial room up on the eighth floor of the state department for swearing in, jim

emerson is the new ambassador to germany. john kerry, secretary of state, swore him in. the last time i was in that room was when bill clinton was president for another friend of mine, jim hormel from san francisco, the first openly gay ambassador to luxembourg and he only was appointed as in recess appointment. the senate would not confirm him because he was an openly gay man. that wasn't that long ago. we're talking 10, 15 years ago. the only way he could become an ambassador was for bill clinton to give him a recess appointment. >> the country has changed. >> bill: i was just thinking wow! >> for whatever reason, listen, i understand it. they're audiologically trapped, certain republicans. there is a significant minority, you know, of republicans both in the house and senate who would be able to deal.

they're willing to figure out some kind of compromise. but these other guys aren't. look at graham. i don't consider graham a progressive republican. >> bill: no. he's willing to work together and john mccain. >> he's gotten multiple primary opponents. so this, i think is going to play out. there are only two ways to go. either republican party changes in some way, it either becomes the tea party republican party or they get beat out and the senator, if you will, i don't want to say progressives because that's ex-an rates -- exaggerating but the moderate wins out or they splinter. you have this kind of -- what you see in european countries where you have like a senator left -- center left, center right. >> bill: chris is here, a "friend of bill" here with the "full court press." we are covering the map

politically and you're welcome to join us. 1-866-55-press. toll free number. we'll be right back. his ability, is trying to look out for us. that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

(vo) this afternoon, current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. john fugelsang: if you believe in states rights but still support the drug war you must be high. cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is about being up to date so a lot

of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern. >> announcer: connect with the "bill press show" on twitter. follow us at bpshow and tweet using the hashtag watching bp. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: of it minutes after the hour. president obama telling vladimir putin i'm not coming.

i'm not going to have that summit. is that the right move? joe cirincione from the ploughshares fund joins us, us meaning me and chris kofinis in the next segment here. [ speaking foreign language ] >> i wonder what that one was. >> bill: he goes from greek to russian just like that. so amazing. chris? >> money wasted on education. >> bill: as a mitt cal strategist, as a district of columbia area irk live in virginia -- you live in virginia. >> maryland. >> bill: i have to ask you, "washington post" is sold. good news, bad news? what was your reaction? >> it is kind of sad because especially for those of us who are old enough to have this kind of notion of how a newspaper should be run which is you know, kind of a -- local, independent patriarch who's going to

fearlessly challenge the status quo and the powers that be. it was a nice antiquated notion. but the market isn't there anymore. you know, when it comes to media, it is changing so dramatically and rapidly. when was the last time -- here's the simplest way to put it. when is the last time you saw anyone who was 25 years old and younger walk around with a newspaper? >> it doesn't happen. >> none. they're look on the phone, their tablet. they're not looking at the paper newspaper. so the industry has changed. so i think it is unfortunate but otherwise, "the post," it would have survived. but now the question is what do they do to give themselves some new energy and new direction. >> bill: i would have to say if anybody knows the answer to that, it is jeff bezos. >> smart guy. he obviously has the resources. >> bill: with that, we've gotta take it. joe cirincione joins us next.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think there is any chance we'll ever hear the president even say the word "carbon tax"? >> with an opened mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned great leadership so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter) >> cutting throught the clutter of today's top stories. >> this is the savior of the republican party? i mean really? >> ... with a unique perspective. >> teddy rosevelt was a weak asmatic kid who never played sports until he was a grown up. >> (laughter) >> ... and lots of fancy buzz words. >> family values, speding, liberty, economic freedom, hard-working moms, crushing debt, cute little puppies. if wayne lapierre can make up stuff that sounds logical while making no sense... hey, so can i. once again friends, this is live tv and sometimes these things

happen. >> watch the show. >> only on current tv.

>> announcer: like politics? then like the "bill press show" on facebook. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: here we go. 33 minutes after the hour. it is the "full court press." we're into the news of the day here on this thursday morning. august 8th. good to have you with us. what a team we've got in studio. chris kofinis has been here and continues as a "friend of bill." democratic strategist. and another long-time "friend of bill" on the program, joe cirincione, head of the ploughshares fund in studio with

us. chris, thanks for being here and joe, welcome back. >> my pleasure. >> bill: you've been off bouncing around the world as always, keeping us on track. >> i'm back here to enjoy august in d.c. a great time to be in the city. >> bill: because it is a ghost town and you can get around. >> the best part -- >> bill: isn't it great when everybody leaves? >> what beltway traffic? >> bill: what beltway? let's start with the summit. the president yesterday -- and we've been asking jay carney for some time. boy, he's not happy about snowden. will there still be a summit? the white house says we have no announcement to make, no change in plans. now we know the change in plans and the president is saying i'm not coming to that. i'm going to go to sweden instead. is he making the right move? >> yeah, well this is -- i think he is but there's problems here. this is one of those on the one hand, on the other hand. on the one hand, i can't believe he let snowden screw up one of

the major relationships we have in the world. it is a little inappropriate for the president of the united states to throw a hissy fit over one whistle-blower who's been granted temporary asylum in russia. the kind of thing we would do. if snowden were russian and had come here, we wouldn't be kicking him out and turning him back to the country. so that's part of it. underneath that, the fact is that the u.s./russian relationship is at a stand still. when you go to a summit, you like to have the presidents announce something. announce an agreement. there were no prospects that russia and the united states were going to be able to announce anything. "the new york times" editorial, it would have only added to putin's domestic prestige. you would give him this world stage to puff himself up on. so, you know, putin's been kind of a -- >> inappropriate individual.

>> bill: we all know the word. >> i can say it in greek if you like. on all of these issues. on syria. remember, u.s. -- not anymore. a stalemate. the president wants to cut nuclear weapons. putin won't agree. he's been adding conditions. closer on iran and north korea. but overall, there was nothing to agree to. the key here is okay, the summit's off. but don't let this important work stop. great powers find a way to work through their disagreements and do the business we have to do. most importantly, resuscitating the nuclear reduction process, getting rid of the cold wars. >> bill: chris, it looks like there is another factor. the two of these guys don't like each other. >> they clearly don't like each other. the body language. you can tell -- everyone remembers the images of yeltsin

and clinton. they genuinely liked each other. it is personal but it is also stylistic and the differences they have on policy are just -- you know, are pretty profound. this has been building for years as everyone remembers. secretary clinton came in. announced this reset. problem is it's tough to reset, i think with russia and putin in particular who basically have a different vision of what russia's role should be both in the region and internationally. you see that playing out, perfect example in syria. you could not see a more dramatic gulf between two major powers than in that place. >> bill: my take on it. i think it looks petty on the president's part and "new york times" this morning points out that the president, by making this decision, potentially dooming his aspirations for further nuclear arms cuts before

leaving office. that, to me, is so important for this country, for the planet and for the president's legacy that he's going to let this pipsqueak edward snowden derail the responsibility? placing too much importance, i believe, on snowden. >> i'm with you on that part of it. no question about it. weeks ago, i heard that snowden was taking up all of the oxygen in the room and that all talks of nuclear reductions, syria, other issues had been pushed aside. >> bill: missile defense, trade, syria, iran -- human rights, we're not going to talk about any of that because we're pissed off about snowden. >> this is a tough call. i'm totally sympathetic with that. i think they let this get out of control. underneath it, however, is the reality that putin was not about to agree to anything independent of snowden so maybe -- if you

play this well, if you deny him the thing he wants which is the summit with the leader of the greatest nation on earth, you deny him that. can you still work it so that you get some agreement? that makes friday's meeting although more important, hagel and kerry are meeting with their russian counterparts, can we get some business done? >> bill: maybe we can get a nuclear arms treaty with sweden out of it. >> we could. if the swedes start developing nuclear weapons, we're all in real trouble! i think the president was in a difficult spot. i think the challenge there is that you know, you play it out. they have the summit. what's one of the -- you're right about the announcement, that's always a key part of the summit. you could probably make something up. but then the thing to me is then you have that press conference where both sides -- both leaders are going to sit there and get asked tough questions. the president at that moment has

to be very tough on putin and publicly. that is a -- and putin will come right back. that creates a real spectacle that i think is almost unavoidable in my mind. >> and might have been worth going to moscow for. >> i agree. if you wanted to really push his buttons, putin's buttons, that may have been the tack that i would have advised. >> go there and punch him. >> the reaction from the democratic opponents in moscow is actually split along these lines. there are some like gary kasparov who says good, stand up to this guy. don't kowtow to him and there are others who say he should have come and met with us, you know. so -- >> bill: let me switch gears in the interest of time. which, to this -- we're still in the middle of this terror threat that was announced in the middle east. our 19 embassies are still

closed. what do we though about it? yemen now says we just busted up the plot that they planned. so it was real. and we busted it up. >> suspicions are growing that more -- more is being made of this in the intelligence intercepts than might be warranted. we don't have any details on where exactly the threat was supposed to be. it was suppose to the happen last sunday. it is all based on an intercepted intelligence between the head of al-qaeda now in pakistan, al-zawahiri and the head of al-qaeda, relatively new leader. young and untested leader of this group. they've been killing the previous leaders. >> bill: yeah, that's right. >> and i gotta tell you, i was scrolling some of the jihadist web sites, the ones that translated, they're jubilant about this. they're bragging about how the u.s. is wasting billions of

dollars in this. and we would like to see more -- whether or not there were actual jihadist operations planned, they say. so it could be an overreaction by the united states. it could be an evert to justify -- an effort to justify the nsa intelligence-gathering operations that have become controversial. it may be just expected overreaction to what happened in benghazi with the killing of our ambassadors. >> bill: this is another tough call, isn't it, chris? >> what i'm curious about -- >> bill: do you ignore it or take action? >> what i'm curious about is where i read about the reports of a conference call. was that true? is the intelligence on that fairly accurate? >> part of the problem is they're not really telling us what they know. they leak it a little bit. the most complete story i've seen is in "the new york times." they talk about intercepted communications. i didn't see whether that was verbal or written. >> bill: you said something i found very curious.

which is that you've been scrolling these jihadist web sites. >> have you learned nothing? >> bill: nsa! whoa! >> i believe there is a rendition squad waiting for him outside. >> bill: seriously. >> a little light reading. >> yeah. >> bill: i mean any such connection gets you automatically -- on the list. >> bill: officer, i was just doing my research. >> make sure you clear your cookies. >> clear my cookies, that's right. so this -- this does set us back and it also runs counter to the administration's message. they've been telling us al-qaeda -- and they're taking care of this and we've won the war -- winning the war on terrorism. here we are. >> bill: we've got al-qaeda. they're on the run, they're on the run and now they're on the

rise. are they on the run or on the rise? we will be back with joe cirincione and wait until you hear, and chris kofinis. wait until you hear how the japanese plan to solve the problems at the nuclear plant. very creative, you must say. >> japan, radioactiveity, gigantic construction projects, it has everything. >> here's a little hint. godzilla. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: yes, indeed. 13 minutes before the top of the hour here. in studio with us, joe cirincione with the ploughshares fund and chris kofinis, a "friend of bill." talking about the delayed summit, talking about the situation in yemen. with those 19 embassies still closed until the end of the week. want to move on to fukushima here. ken is calling from san rafael, california. on the way to inverness. san rafael. good morning. >> caller: good morning, bill. i think it is a big mistake not meeting with putin. every time you have a chance to talk with either an adversary or a friend that you don't like, you make progress. even if it is very little progress. it looks childish if you don't go.

and the whole thing about it is so ridiculous. there are no secrets this guy can give up that's going to make difference in america's security. let's get real. >> bill: we got it, ken. i think it is the reaction of a lot of people. >> good point, especially for an administration that said it would come in willing to talk to anybody, anywhere and now we're not talking to our adversaries, iran, north korea, even our former partner, putin. it doesn't look good. >> bill: yeah, point you made earlier that we have made progress on these areas. certainly not going to make any progress unless you're trying. or talking. >> he's going to have to rescue. i understand the move but i said he's going to rescue, work harder. >> bill: going to come up with a big trade deal with sweden. >> bill: i don't know what sweden wants that we want but we're going to get it. >> it is a nice place. >> stockholm is beautiful. >> stockholm is beautiful.

>> bill: if we were in holland, i would say tulips. what do we get out of sweden? cheese? oh, boy, the swedes. >> let's just stop right there. back off. i love sweden! >> by the way, current tv is huge in sweden. be careful. >> bill: it is going to be bigger there than it is here in about a week. headline. "new york times," japan stepping in to help clean up of atomic plant. i thought they had cleaned this place up and what's going on now? >> fukushima is a continuing slow-motion catastrophe. these are the reactors that melted down and shut down electricity. thousands of people killed as part of what happened in the wake of the tsunami a couple of years ago. well, they've been unable to contain the radioactive water that still continues to pour out of the plant. they have to keep pouring water on these melted cores so that

they don't go critical. but there's no containment walls anymore. they pump the water in. >> bill: water seeps out. it is now radioactive. >> they're building pools to hold it but they have hundreds of tons of water that they're generating every day. they just acknowledged that tons of this radioactive water is going into the pacific ocean every day. so here's -- there's nothing funny about radioactivity except when there is. >> i have a couple of jokes from college. >> this is their latest plan. these guys are desperate. they're going to build the world's largest ice wall to contain it. they decided they're going to freeze the ground around the entire plant. the wall will extend for a mile in length all the way around the facility. and go 100 feet down and that's the way they will contain the radio acttivity. >> a brilliant idea.

>> bill: this is not the north pole. how are they going to keep this damn wall frozen? >> they're going to have to use electricity generated from the fukushima disabled nuclear power plant. >> what could possibly go wrong? >> what are you talking about? >> do you not all have ice in your home, right? how do you keep ice-cold in your home? they're going to build the world's biggest refrigerator around the ice of which it is around -- >> every day the japanese people will bring ice. >> bill: but this is -- before everybody says oh, look at these guys, they're making this stuff up. we're not making this up. >> you can't make this up. this is not game of drones. it is actually japan wants to build a giant wall. >> is there going to be small ice cubes or big ice cubes? >> go to the "new york times." it is in the land of their front page story on here and it just

shows you how desperate it is. how dangerous nuclear power is. you know, something goes wrong at a coal plant or solar plant, it is a problem. something goes wrong on a nuclear power plant, it is a catastrophe and it doesn't end quickly. >> bill: the comforting line is the last one in the "new york times" article about this, officials say no wall of ice on such a scale has ever been attempted before. >> that technically is true. >> they're desperate. they're trying something that's never been built. it is not this. this is definitely going to be giant robot monsters. >> bill: that's next. >> putin and obama should meet to talk about the wall of ice. no. >> bill: exactly. i think there is a wall of ice between them. we got it covered here with chris kofinis, thank you, man.

we still want to know what you said in greek at the top of the hour. he was cursing in greek. joe cirincione, always good to have you in, my friend. ploughshares.org. i will be back with a quick parting shot. >> announcer: go mobile with bill press. download podcasts and listen any time, anywhere from the billpressshow.com. this is the "bill press show." >> viewpoint. >> carl rove said today that mitt romney is a lock to win next pope. he's garunteeing it. >> joy behar: say anything. >> is the bottom line then that no white person should ever, ever, ever use the "n" word? >> yes! >> only on current tv.

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>> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything. >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: well, as we've been talking a lot, washington buzzing with news that president obama canceled his planned summit with vladimir putin. that was indeed a giant snub but

not obama's first. back in september 2012, he said he was too busy to meet with is railly prime minister benjamin netanyahu when netanyahu was here on a visit to washington. on another front last week, rand paul invited chris christie to have a beer and mend fences but christie said he was too busy to have a beer with the senator. nbc news yesterday published also a list of other classic political snubs among them, john adams refused to hang around washington for thomas jefferson's inauguration. he set out for massachusetts early that morning. general george mclellan came home one night to be told president abraham lincoln was waiting for him in the parlor but the general didn't want to see the president. he went upstairs and went to bed instead. last december, john boehner attended a christmas party at the white house and refused to have his picture taken with president obama. so, you see, politics isn't always nice. sometimes it is downright ugly.

sad put sad put vladimir

putin vladamir putin land. judy gold live this morning? >> jacki sheckner. did i say karl rove? i did. i am drunk. jacki sheckner, everything old is new again. i heard tea party people are urging republicans to cuts off the funding for obamacare approximate. yay! >> let's see how that goes